Hello all-
'twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house
Not a creature was Stirring
Not even a mouse...

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

We've extended the sign ups for BL Frozen Fiesta to January 3rd, so we can all enjoy this Holiday Season.

Happy Holidays!

Howdy !

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Pretty quiet around here seeing as hubby is on the East coast and I'm on the West this year. I will go to some very good friends house for Christmas dinner tomorrow and my Dad is coming down day after to stay for a couple of days but other then that it's me, the dogs and the cats.

Took the dogs for a short hike this morning... only about 2 miles. It was fun, although it can be a bit of a handful with 3 dogs all wanting to sniff different directions.

I like giving personal gifts rather than store bought and this year I did homemade hot cocoa with mini peppermint marshmallows and also maple cinnamon peanut butter from scratch. They both turned out really well.

Have a very Merry Christmas all... enjoy the day and family !!

Merry Christmas Everyone. I had been so good and then today I was so bad....now it's over and I can be good again.

Wishing you all the best for the holiday season.

Mel hope you and the family have an awesome day

Leslie its nice to be able to go to friends for dinner and it will be ice to see our dad. Nice touch on the personal gifts.

Well I worked Christmas eve until 6pm and now I'm off for two days. My brother is on call for today so we celebrated right after I got off work so it was small (my brother, mom and myself) but it was also very nice.

Well 12:50am here so should get some sleep soon. Im also.hoping the 12-14 hour days are soon behind me:-)

Merry Christmas ALL!

Enjoy.

Hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas!

Well we ended up having lasagna Christmas Eve too. I was feeling so lousy we decided to take at easy and just pick up some frozen. My husband is Italian so he was happy, I didn't have any. To many carbs.

In spite of the cold Christmas was nice. My daughter and two granddaughters were here and it was just a wonderful day. Very simple but pretty nice. My 5 year old granddaughter was so fun to watch. She loved everything. She was the source of my cold but she was far enough ahead of me to be feeling a lot better yesterday. Hopefully she will continue to recover we have had a really hard time this year with her catching everything that is in the air. ... and then she shares it with me.

If there is an upside to being sick over the holiday's is you don't gain weight. Climbed on the scale today because I haven't logged any food for several weeks and I am down several pounds this week. Hope it stays off, that is the down side of loosing weight when you are sick, it tends to return with no effort.

PageLynn, was it you that asked what we were doing to loose weight? I carb count. I watch my calories so I don't over do it on nuts, etc. but for me it is all about the carbs. I try to keep it about 1 to 1 1/2 carb servings per meal. And I don't allow myself white carbs unless they are just the most wonderful thing in the world. No flour, sugar, rice, potatoes if they are white. Eliminating the carbs have controlled my cravings so I'm not struggling to make good choices. I make sure I get healthy fat during the day, usually using nuts or nut butter. That really keeps me satisfied so I don't start feeling hungry. I do count my almonds out and give myself a half serving at a time. Same with natural peanut butter (need to watch that sugar isn't added to your PB). My scale lives on my counter and I weigh everything so I know exactly how much I've consumed. (unless it is Christmas LOL).

One more Holiday and we will be safely into the season of eating better and exercise. Looking forward to it.

Happy New You.
Evangeline

Happy Day-After Christmas !

Hope everyone had a great day with family and friends yesterday. Was a fun day on this end... enjoyed the company of a couple of people I haven't been able to sit down and chat with for awhile and we shared a very good meal.

Jacky - Hope you're enjoying your 2 days off !

Mel - Hope you had a great Christmas.

PageLynn - My plan consists of staying within a calorie range for the day with trying to keep a protein/carb/fat ratio of about 40%/35%/25% respectively. I also try and get at least 1/2 hour of exercise 5 times/week. Normally I get more then that but I want at least that.

Evangeline - Hope you're feeling better ! The viruses this time of year can be really nasty. Sounds like you had a great Christmas with your granddaughter.

Have a great day all !

Thanks for your responses Evangeline and Leslie. I am truly considering calorie counting but having been off and on with WW, its hard to decide. I just feel I need to mix things up.

Evangeline - I hope you get to feeling better!

happy boxing day all!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

I managed to walk the dog while the sun was out, but the rest of the day I spent inside- baking- getting it all out of my system.

PageLynn- I had a small journal to write down what food I ate when I first started. I could only handle journaling for a little bit though- until I was honest with myself and became aware of what I should be eating. I've come to realize for me that it's more about portion control than anything.

Have a great evening.

Super excited to start the challenge, hubby got me the bodyfit media (or bodymedia fit) for Christmas. I'm collecting for my baseline, although with two weeks off work this is not typical for me. It is eye opening to realize how little I have been moving at home so I am making a conscious effort today and my house could use some cleaning anyway! Also tracking food again, shocked at what I am eating but know in the long run this will help!
Hope everyone has a healthy start to the new year!!! One of my goals is to check in here once a day to get encouragement.

Hello all-
Hope everyone has enjoyed their Friday.
We are getting together with friends this evening, which I am looking forward to.
The kids all played with friends today, which made them all very hapy as they discussed how they spent Christmas and what gifts they received.

Now staring down the end of 2012. Reflecting back on what happened over the year and thinking about realistic goals. I am terrible at making/settng goals, I kind of wind my way to where I'd like to end up. I'd like to be more efficient on my paths, but that requires more dedication as well...hmmmm something to ponder.
Have a great evening!

Morning I'm on my way to work soon but wanted to drop in and say hello.

PageLynn I do a combo of cc and WW the one app I have actually shows me both and I really like that feature. It also tracks the exercise too. When I'm being really OP I put in all my food....

I need to do this again as in Dec....yes Dec I was actually losing weight and only 1lb from goal.......now since the 24th I seem to be shoving everything into my mouth and guess what.....I'm no longer 1lb away from goal

Time to start tracking again.

Well off to drink coffee and finish getting ready for work. Have a great day everyone

What are your goals for the New Year.....or for the challenge?

BigMid - I know how you feel. I was down to 175 at halloween and now back up to 187.8 . Got lax when I was dating a friend I wasn't happy with (but my family loved him). I am single again and I am re-committed to losing this weight.

New Year's resolution: Lose the weight once and for all. NO MORE EXCUSES!

For the challenge: Lose 15 lbs.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
We are trying to motivate the kids to go cross country skiing. They are less than enthused. Now I know why it's sometimes easier to just say forget it as it can be so exhausting just preparing to go.
Have a wonderful Sunday all!